Wednesday 15th April 06:51
Hi there, morning to you all,
I know you’re out there somewhere. I’m sitting here with my cup of tea. It’s not great. Too milky and lukewarm. But the sky is alive. I’m finding it hard to be too upbeat this morning. So I keep popping outside to capture the changing colour of the sky. Phone’s getting a little full of my sky pics. Need to download on laptop. How many can one take of the same thing hey? All so similar and yet those little nuances of shade. Wait…I’m going out again. Okay, I’ll add them all to the blog I think. Right in here.
You all joined View from my Window Facebook yet? It’s wonderful. Really. I’ve spent a while looking at pics from all around the world. All the love that’s getting sent around the world is heart warming. Especially when you see the tiny little spots with no views whatsoever. Or from a New York hospital bed? Flip.
But shall I tell you the truth? I’m battling to feel too upbeat today. (oh, I’ve said that) Well, sorry if this isn’t a great blog today. Just not feeling too funny or quirky. Gotta go and deliver some sandwiches just now so need to get done with this. And then there’s my proper word count I have to get up today. God, that’s so much harder than this blog. Imagine if writing a book was easy as this blog. It isn’t I promise. It’s not just about words on a page. It’s character. Characters. And plots and structure and scenes. What I really want to do is just tell you my story all right here in one go. You know? Like John and Mary were siblings who lived there and went there and then they each got married, or not, and in between chuck in some dialogue (maybe some sex, but I’m not keen on that, I mean writing about sex,) and then their father/mother died or threw things at each other and they were sad but they managed and along the way they had a few girlfriends/boyfriends and so add those in but make them believable, likeable blah blah blah, and make sure there’s crisis and drama and that your protagonist transforms in some way…. It’s much harder than writing this. Believe me.
(Oh, thank heavens the sky’s calmed down a bit. I can get on with this damn dumb blog. Ha, you know what I did right now? I wrote dum without the dumb. And there’s a little red line under the dum which means it’s not right but I know that ‘cos it looks funny but for the life of me for a minute I couldn’t – well, for that instant, at least, – figure out how to get dum to look right on the page. )
Ahhh, I’m struggling today. Great, the bloody dog’s barking. Instant distraction. I’m going to let her in. Hang on a sec…
Right. I’m back. 7:26. Both in, biscuits given, hands gobbed on. Washed. Took another pic of the sky. Here. Chucking it in too.
You see what I mean? Sky’s calmed down a bit.
I’ll tell you why I’m struggling. I watched some more Ozark last night after supper ( and someone on View from my Window was from Ozark, and I said ‘Aah! I’m from Cape Town and just watching Netflix series Ozarks and here I see it! Stay safe! And she replied! and said enjoy the series! So hi Louwanna Bloom from Ozarks! And how weird is that! Nearly like my old surname, Blum which everyone always spelt Bloom silly people.. ) and while we’re both watching, my husband and I, we’re both saying, flip this is just so weird. What’s good about it? And then it looks like Charlotte’s gonna drown but we know she’s not. But the drama? And the characters? They’re all just so hideous. Apart from Marty. I kinda like him. I like his shirts actually. Have you noticed that? He wears really nice shirts. Got quite a nice bum too (Now, that word doesn’t have b. Isn’t that just weird!) But ja, that show. It doesn’t make you feel good. You know what I mean? So, we go to bed finally and each pick up a book. (I’ve passed on a lot of books to him lately, he’s reading a lot more now that he’s home and all. (The one I pass him is called “How much is enough?” It’s non-fiction. In fact, he says,’ why do you have so many books that you haven’t even read yet?’ and I laugh ‘cos he clearly doesn’t know like, real book people…’ And we’re both reading and I get a few more pings on my phone re sandwiches that I’m going to deliver tomorrow to Khayelitsha that we made (actually my girls made them yesterday before supper when I got back from Pick n Pay where, incidentally, more people are wearing masks but not all) and then I see from our neighbourhood security that there’s a break in from someone not too far from us ( an armed robbery by four guys ) and I immediately text my friend ‘cos think it may be her and she responds immediately telling me that no, it wasn’t her, it was her neighbour but no-one was really hurt but ja, they were both tied up with ropes or something around their wrists and then all their stuff taken. “I’m here with her now (her neighbour) “ my friend tells me, at Constantiaberg because her wrists were pretty cut but she’s ok. Only ‘worldly goods’ stolen. They’re fine. Seems like they’re going back up Vlakkenberg now (that’s where we did our last hike before lockdown) …apparently four Ovambos.
Ovambos are from Namibia. My hometown. Beautiful dark-skinned people, their traditional dress with big copper rings around their feet and wrists and neck. Google them if you like.
“I wish these guys would use their ingenuity to create some business in South Africa and not only to commit bloody crime,” he says while still holding his book in front of him. “Is our alarm on?”
Am I allowed to say that here? I hope so.
Okay, so that’s it. That’s my blog today from a beautiful cool and somewhat cloudy Cape Town.
If you want to help this country in any way you can, please do so. We seem to be doing well so far but there is always this underlying current of anxious anticipation.
And never more than now.
That’s probably why we prefer to look at the colour of the clouds.
Promise tomorrow’s blog more upbeat. And no more clouds.
Stay safe, stay sane and keep connected,
Love from Cape Town,
xx
Niki Malherbe 